Muhit says sorry again

Finance Minister AMA Muhith on Thursday apologized for his comments about public university teachers demonstrating for a review of pay scale and also withdrew his statement.

“I’m sorry for my remarks and I am withdrawing my statement, what has happened is over here” he told a media briefing in Sylhet Circuit House.

This is not for the first time to say ‘Sorry’ for Finance Minister AMA Muhith, earlier on June, 2012, he told the business leaders, “I am 78 years and six months, which means nearly 79 years. So, at times I lose my temper. Please forgive me”, for his remarks on tax proposals in the budget.

Muhith recently on Tuesday termed the teacher’s movement as the emersion for lack of knowledge of the university teachers and said, “There’s no reason for their work abstention as they don’t even know what is there or not there for them in the new pay scale”. “They don’t know what the pay scale has for them,” he added.

He also said the corrupt practices by the university teachers need to be controlled.

Terming the promotions of the lecturers into professors as not so fair, he added, “The way we manage bureaucracy, we’ll control the university staff the same way”.

The teachers’ platform Federation of Bangladesh University Teachers’ Associations (FBUTA) in a statement the same night asked the minister to apologize publicly within 24 hours.

Dhaka University Teachers’ Association also asked the finance minister to voluntarily withdraw for his remarks.

"Muhit has tarnished the image of government and also frustrated the country’s teacher community through his funny remarks. He has to take the responsibility of any disorder on the campuses if he doesn’t withdraw his comments and say sorry to the teachers within 24 hours," said the FBUTA statement.

Public university Teachers, the nation builders are being humiliated in Bangladesh due to not fixing any grade in the 8th national pay scale which now pushing them to agitate on the streets and moving for tougher movements.

However, the Cabinet approved the Eighth National Pay Scale on Monday with basic pay ranging between Tk 8,250 and Tk 78,000 but it does not separately mention the status of selection grade professors which triggered demonstrations across the country.

The university teachers have been demonstrating since last December after the Pay Commission proposed the eighth pay scale.

Teachers of 37 public universities, mostly belong to the progressive forces led by the ruling Awami League moving for tougher movements across the country, held processions and rallies and declared full day work abstention on Sunday (Sept 13, 2015) to press for their four-point charter of demand.

Public university senior professors were put in grade-2 and professors in grade-3 along with secretaries and major generals in the Seventh National Pay Scale, but the new pay scale didn’t mention any grade for the university teachers saying ‘Grade will be fixed after forming a committee’.